


How to Betray a Friend

by TrulyMightyPotato



Series: Welcome to the Dark Side [2]
Category: Star Wars, Video Blogging RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 03:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8693944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrulyMightyPotato/pseuds/TrulyMightyPotato
Summary: What happened before Jack and Ethan had their strange adventures in space? This. This happened.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PurrtlePuff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurrtlePuff/gifts).



> You are supposed to read this one second, so I hope you are.

“Wade.” Jack’s voice cracked, sheer raw emotion rocketing through his face.

Wade was instantly on his feet, catching the smaller man as he crumpled, sobbing.

“What happened?” Wade asked, looking around for Bob and Mark. “Is everyone okay?”

Jack just shook his head, soaking Wade’s shirt with tears and snot. “Mark. Mark, Mark, Mark.”

A deep sense of unease filled Wade. “What happened?”

“His * sob * ship.” Jack’s voice cracked again. “* sob * gone. Search * sob * rubble * bawl * nothing.”

“I can’t understand you, Jack.” Wade cradled his friend gently, starting to look around for a blanket or something to make a sad sushi roll out of his friend.

Well, he had a very soft robe.

Wade looked at Jack, still sobbing, then at the robe slung across the chair where he’d dropped it after a really bad date only a few hours before. It was all the way across the room, next to Wade’s creator station (which was really just a fancy way of saying ‘this is my designated spot to tinker around’). Not that he’d had much of a chance to use it recently, with how long his shifts had been.

Wade made a face, then opted for simply picking up Jack and dragging him across the room to his bed. His apartment in Coruscant wasn’t very large -- exactly three rooms -- but he did manage to make enough money in his job in law enforcement to not have to share with anyone (or live at his mom’s, like he’d been doing for quite a while before that -- growing up, and all).

Wade dropped Jack on the bed and left him sobbing into the pillow while Wade grabbed the robe, then went and sat next to his brown-haired friend and scooped him up and wrapped him tightly in the improvised blanket.

“Alright, Sushi Jack.” Wade said quietly. “What happened? What’s wrong? Where are Mark and Bob?”

Jack’s response was lost in a wail.

Wade sighed, hugging him and putting Wade’s chin on the top of his head. “Alright. We’ll sit here until you can talk.” Or until Wade had to get ready for his next shift. Either way.

Nearly an hour passed before Jack’s sobs fell into silent hiccups and coughs.

Wade just got Jack some water.

Jack drank it very slowly, eyes fixed on the water for a long time. Then he sighed and lowered his hands into his lap, eyes still fixed on the reflection.

“Do you remember two months ago?” Jack’s voice scratched. “Right before we left, when I got asked if we would take supplies to one of the ships that had been attacked and stranded on a world that barely had the supplies to let them let someone know they were stranded?”

Wade nodded slowly. “You were more than happy to do it.”

Jack nodded, balancing Wade’s mug on his ankles and pulling the improvised blanket around him.

“I regret that decision.”

Wade leaned back onto his hands. “Why? Because you promised you’d dye your hair when you got back, with Mark?”

Jack shook his head, eyes tearing up again. “Mark didn’t come back.”

While Wade could have said something like “oh, he decided to stay and help them with repairs,” because that was totally something Mark would do, that wouldn’t make Jack cry in Wade’s arms for an hour. Mark had his own ship, he could come and go as he wanted.

(Wade was insanely jealous that Mark had his own ship.)

Jack swallowed. “He waited a bit longer to make sure the people stranded didn’t need to send any messages back with us or anything. When he came up to the _Septic_ , his ship was sparking off one wing.”

Wade’s eyes widened. This could only go one way.

“His ship --” Jack’s voice broke in a sob again “-- it exploded.” Jack’s hands tightened around Wade’s mug. “Bob and I, we, we searched the debris, but there was no, no sign of him at all.” Jack made a sound that sounded like a choke, and his shoulders slumped as he stared at the mug. “We couldn’t even bring back his body for his mother.”

Wade hugged Jack again, feeling tears threaten to fall. “It's not your fault, Jack. Nobody could have seen it coming.”

“I'm the captain. I, I should have done something.”

“What could you have done?” Wade sighed. “Getting close to his ship just would have resulted in the _Septic_ getting hit when Mark's ship exploded. You saved as many as you could. You did what you needed to do.”

Jack just started to cry once more.

\-----

Mark's memorial service was in a few hours.

The thought weighed heavily on Wade as he looked at himself in the mirror in his small bathroom.

He hadn't been able to talk to or even see Jack or Bob in the three months since Jack had broken the news of Mark's death. Either he'd been busy with work or just not feeling up to socializing, or they'd been gone retrieving the last of the pieces of Mark's ship so the computer could be analyzed and they could learn what had caused the explosion -- a malfunction, where the manufacturer would have to pay damages; maintenance gone wrong; damage readings indicating Mark had been shot down or his ship tampered with; or simply a very unfortunate accident?

If Mark had been shot down and the person who did it lived anywhere on Coruscant, Wade would be sure to get the person feeling as much of the weight of the law as was possible.

Jack wouldn't approve.

Jack had grown his hair out in Mark's style and dyed it in memory of their promise, that Wade knew. His mother had sent Wade a picture of Jack and Bob going into their apartment (which was right next door to hers) the night before. Jack's hair was now very green and the long part on top had been pulled into a fluffy ponytail boof.

It was a strange look after seeing Jack for so long with shorter brown hair, but it fit him.

Wade looked over his appearance once more and then left for the service. Mark's mothers had asked him to talk about Mark at the service, since they'd been friends for over a decade, so he had to be there early.

Especially since traveling anywhere far away in this giant city took forever.

Forever that gave Wade plenty of time to think about what he was going to say. He didn't want to give a play by play of their friendship -- practically everyone who would be attending already knew Wade and Mark had been friends ever since Wade's mother had taken him and his siblings and moved into the apartment next to Mark.

Wade sighed and slouched in his seat. He'd never thought this was something he would have to do. He was older, logic dictated that Wade would have been the one to die first. Ideally, decades down the road, but still. Mark wasn't supposed to die before hitting 25. Wade hadn't even hit 25 yet.

Life was cruel.

\-----

The hardest part of being at Mark's service was the raw emotion. You didn't get the chance to see raw emotion a lot in a big city -- there was so little space to move around, any emotion at all got into other people's personal space. Even then, most emotions shared were usually positive.

Which made it awfully difficult to prepare to see people sobbing and heavily muted.

Wade still didn't know what he was going to say about Mark by the time he was walking to the front of the room to speak.

Mark. Oh, Mark.

“I really met Mark on a trip to one of the museums nearby our childhood home.” They'd never really gone to a formal school, but the parents on the floor of the apartment building liked to team up and mentor all the kids for education. “We got put in pairs. The adults who took us told us it was good practice, but I'm pretty sure they just didn't want 50 individual kids to keep track of.

“I ended up with Mark. We'd technically met a few weeks before, and I would see him around, but we never really spoke until that day.” Wade took a deep breath. “That trip showed me just how much passion Mark had for space and travel between the stars and for helping people.”

Mark’s moms were holding tightly onto Thomas, who was sitting between them and looking calmer than they were, but Wade was fairly sure Thomas was just trying to stay together for the moms. He’d done the same thing at the funeral for Mark’s father.

“Mark has followed that passion his entire life. He’s made hundreds smile, and they will all remember him.” How could they forget? Mark was anything but forgettable, with his sense of humor and dedication and enthusiasm and that laugh of his and how he always greeted large groups of people with that ‘hello everybody’ (even though he always made fun of Wade’s ‘hey guys’). “Just like we’ll remember him forever. He’s made an impact on so many lives, and we’re not going to let his influence stop now. Just because Mark is gone doesn’t mean his passion is.”

Thomas smiled at Wade, dipping his head.

It was probably a good thing Wade had finished winging his way through that, because that was the moment he noticed Jack wasn’t in the audience. Bob was, but Jack wasn’t.

Afterwards, when people were starting to leave, Wade rushed over to Bob. “Where’s Jack?”

“He came before you got here.” Bob said quietly. “He couldn’t keep his composure long enough to feel comfortable in front of people.”

“I can’t blame him. I barely could.”

“You had an emotional part.” Bob assured. “Nobody would have judged you if you’d cried.”

“I would have.”

Bob patted Wade on the shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with crying, Wade. Especially when one of our best friends being dead is the reason we’re here.”

Wade went to respond, but then realized Tyler and Jesse were walking up to them.

They were so quiet it seemed strange to keep talking around them, especially without Jack and Mark around to fill up all the empty spaces in conversation.

The four of them went to Bob and Jack’s apartment, where there was no sign of Jack. Bob didn’t comment on it, so Wade didn’t either.

They talked for hours, remembering Mark and some of their more spectacular adventures -- when Mark had been messing around and managed to shut off power to a whole district of the city, the desperate and possibly slightly illegal methods Mark used to earn the required money for his personal space ship, the first times Mark actually flew his new ship... there were countless stories they could have discussed. It was somewhat difficult to focus on it, though, given the circumstances.

Tyler and Jesse left first, having to travel quite a distance to get to their homes in time to get enough rest for the next work day.

After they were gone, Bob sighed and started cleaning up. “Jack and I are leaving tomorrow morning.”

Wade looked up. “So soon?” Usually they stayed at home for a month before going out again, to give themselves the chance to talk to family and recover from so long in space.

“Jack’s restless. I don’t think he can handle staying here right now. Not when Mark’s family will be asking what happened.”

Wade sighed. “I know that feeling.”

“Restlessness or not wanting to answer questions?”

“Unease. Nothing seems right without Mark here.” Wade shook his head. It was like the world had ended.

“The world may have ended, but the universe is continuing.” Bob said, taking a seat next to Wade again. “Everything is normal, but nothing is.”  
“Exactly.”

“Kind of how it was when Mark’s dad died.”

“A little.”

“We’ll adjust to it.” Bob picked up the last of the cups. “Just like we’ve adjusted to every other death we’ve had to live through. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll manage.”

Wade sighed, but nodded. “You’re right.” Bob usually was right. “When do you leave in the morning?”

“Before dawn. Jack’s making sure everything is getting loaded right -- he’s not coming back at all tonight.”

Wade sighed. “Let me know when he gets the time to talk. I don’t want Mark’s death to drive the rest of us apart.”

“Of course.”

\-----

Wade walked into his apartment, tired and ready to sleep (he’d already stayed up later than he should have with an early morning shift), and froze. Something was off. Everything looked to be in place... no, no not quite. His bed had something new on it -- and it definitely wasn’t something that would ever belong to Wade.

Carefully leaving the door open so he could escape if he needed to, Wade walked over to it and cautiously touched it. No ticking or beeping or vibrating or anything, which was good. Just a small hologram that flickered to life, projecting a few inches above the device.

Mark.

Battered and bruised, with a bleeding lip and eyebrow, but definitely Mark.

“Please.” Mark’s voice was faint, and slightly static. “I need help. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Coordinates appeared at the bottom of the hologram, and Wade quickly wrote them down.

Mark was alive? Or was this a cruel prank?

Wade would find out. He needed to get transport to the coordinates, and time off work for the trip, so it would be a few days before he could even leave, but hopefully the trip would give him some information -- whether it was that Mark was alive, or Mark’s body if he wasn’t.

\-----

The only person willing to take Wade that far that fast was a pilot named Molly, and her ship, the _Foxtrot_ , was definitely what you would call a private ship. It was barely able to fit the both of them, and supplies for the journey. At least the trip was only going to be a week either direction, since she could move a lot faster than Jack’s freighter.

Of course, it would have taken a week in either direction if things hadn’t gone horribly wrong.

It started out well enough. Wade and Molly got along well, and had a lot of really nice conversations. They were close enough by the time they reached their destination that Wade had told her everything about why he was making the trip, and she volunteered to come with him to investigate the exact coordinates.

The exact coordinates proved to be an abandoned building.

“You sure this is what the coordinates said?” Molly looked at the building, raising her eyebrows. “I don’t think that would provide much shelter at all.”

“I’m sure.” Wade knew Molly was sure, too. He’d shown her the message.

“Well, here’s hoping your friend is still alive.” Molly pulled her hair over her shoulders. “He looked pretty beat up.”

“I would love to hope, but I don’t think I would be able to handle losing him again.” Wade murmured.

Molly just nodded. “We can go in when you’re ready.”

Wade took a deep breath, quietly dropping his hand to the bag he was wearing at his side. Past Wade had decided to bring medical supplies in case Mark needed them, or something went wrong, and current Wade was very comforted in the fact that past Wade had thought so far ahead.

Current Wade was also very nervous about the fact that he didn't have a weapon of any kind. His job didn't need one, at least not usually, but Jack and Mark and Bob had offered multiple times to teach him how to use a blaster. Past Wade had always turned them down.

At least Molly had one.

“I'm as ready as I'll ever be.”

“Stay close behind me, then.”

“You're going in first?”

“I have the weapon.”

Wade sighed, but moved so she could go in first.

The building was only large enough for one room, a room that had clearly been taken off the “to clean” list of whoever had built it, probably by an employee either fed up with the amount of work they had to do or trying to prank another employee and the problem had simply never been fixed.

Dirt and mud and dust caked the floor, stains ran up and down the walls, something seemed to be dripping from the ceiling (unsurprisingly, since this was a jungle world), mushrooms and some kind of mold (?) were growing straight out of one of the walls. Most alarming was how one corner of the building looked like it had collapsed outward (or maybe it had been pushed?).

An imprint in the dirt -- and the floor itself -- was what caught Wade’s attention, though. Someone had been sleeping here for a long time.

“Looks like someone was here recently enough that water hasn’t pooled there.” Molly nodded at the imprint. “But if Mark was here, how did he get a message to you without getting himself home?”  
“I don’t know.” Wade frowned.

A soft creak sounded throughout the stone building.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Molly glanced around. “Figure out if Mark left clues, fast, so we can get out of here. It’s giving me the chills.”

“I’m looking.” Wade walked first over to the imprint, then around the entire room, searching the walls for markings (or, considering they were looking for a certain friend, MARKings) and the ground for anything Mark could have dropped to identify himself.

All he found were more ominous creaking sounds.

“Do you hear that?” Molly looked around.

Wade paused, listening hard.

There. The soft whine of some machinery? A weapon charging up?

Then the unmistakable sound of a heavy weapon going off, and the stone walls exploded.

\-----

The first things Wade became aware of were first, the immense pain he was in, and second, Molly’s rapid and definitely shallow breathing somewhere near his head.

The next things he became aware of was Mark’s face over his, bloody and dirty and looking about as roughed up as you would expect after how he’d looked the last time Wade had seen an image of his face.

“You came.” Mark’s voice seemed faint, and Wade realized Molly’s breathing was getting quieter, too. “Thank you. I need your help.”

What Wade wanted to say was something along the lines of “I’d love to help, Mark, but a building just exploded on me and I’m a bit occupied with being in pain.”

What he did actually say was “Nnnnhhh.”

“You’ll be fine.” Mark’s voice soothed. “Both of you will be just fine.”

\-----

Wade would have been sure he’d been hallucinating Mark from being close to death or something if it weren’t for the fact that he woke up again, not dead and only mildly injured. Clearly, someone had been taking care of him.

He was left in an empty apartment, he learned once he gathered the courage to leave the room where he woke up. Two bedrooms -- both had two beds that looked like they’d been slept in (only one of the beds looked that way in the second room), but Wade was the only person in the area. A kitchen and dining room. A family room. A very elegant room with a bathing pool and showers and toilets tucked into stalls around the corner, with sinks and mirrors across the space of the corner. All with very minimalistic, almost empty, decoration and colors.

The only door to the outside world seemed to be from the family room, but Wade didn’t go out it just yet. Instead, he got to see himself in the mirrors and paused.

These weren’t his clothes. They were definitely very comfortable, but they weren’t his -- they were black. Even the socks were black -- black with pink moustaches. Who owned these clothes?

A soft sound came from one of the other rooms, and Wade cautiously peeked around the corner. He couldn’t see anyone.

Carefully, Wade went from room to room, not finding any person. He was fairly sure by this point that he’d just heard something loud go by in the hall.

And then he walked into the family room and saw a fluff of candy pink hair poking over the back of one of the couches.

“Hello.” The pink moved, and Mark’s voice spoke. Merely a second later, the person on the couch had twisted around and was watching Wade.

It was Mark.

Wade paused for a moment, then went over to the supposed Mark and looked at him.

“I’m real.” Mark assured. “I’m very real.”

“You died.”

“I dyed my hair.” Mark corrected, pointing at the pink. “It’s fabulous.”

“And how do I know it’s actually you?”

“Do you want me to say a bunch of words with ‘p’ in it so I can spit all over your face?”

“No, that’s fine.” Wade slowly moved around the couch and sat on the farthest cushion away from Mark.

“I’m glad you’re up.” Mark grinned.

“You died.” Wade said.

“I faked my death.” Mark shrugged.

“Why?”

Mark paused, then shrugged. “I knew I’d have to explain it sooner or later.” He twisted to face Wade fully, folding his leg on the couch so his foot was under the other knee. “Do you remember, last year, when the four of us went to that party that got crashed?”

‘Crashed’ was an understatement. Someone had crashed through the wall of the building next door and started almost a whole city block on fire from the explosion.

“How could I forget?”

“Afterwards, when I was getting questioned about what I’d seen, I got an offer for private work.”

Wade remembered that -- Mark had spent six months heading all over the galaxy doing something he wouldn’t tell them about (Jack had wanted Wade to take Mark’s place on the _Septic_ during that time, but Wade couldn’t afford to go if he wanted a chance of getting his current job). In fact, Mark had barely gotten back from the trip in time to rejoin Jack for the shipping trip involving Mark supposedly dying.

“I learned so much.” Mark grinned broadly. “About history, and about the force.”

“Why? It’s not like either of us have it.”  
Mark leaned forward. “That’s where you’re wrong, Wade. We both do.”

Wade just looked at him, then shook his head. “That’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking. Remember when we spent the day together and kept getting followed by that weird person?”

Between Mark’s trips. It had been the last time Wade had seen Mark before everything had gone so weird.

“We were both super uneasy about that.”

“You were, because they were testing you. I was faking it so you wouldn’t feel weird.”

Wade frowned at Mark. “How much of our relationship has been a lie?”

“Not a lot, and I’m fixing it now.” Mark shook his head. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Everyone back home thinks you’re dead. How is that okay?”

“It’s better for them this way.” Mark said softly. “They wouldn’t be able to handle how much I would have been away.”

“So you _faked your death_?”

“We need to be trained. I found us a teacher.”

Wade shook his head. “I’m going to ignore that for now. Where’s Molly?”

“Getting tested. If she’s ‘force sensitive’ or whatever the official phrasing is, then she’ll be training with us.”

“And what if we just want to go home?”

Mark shook his head. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”

\-----

Wade didn’t know what got told his family or his job, but they didn’t freak out when he didn’t come back when he was supposed to. In fact, it was almost six months before Mark let Wade and Molly return to Coruscant -- only after he’d obtained promises from them that they wouldn’t tell anyone what had really happened, and that they would continue meeting Mark for more training.

It was strange, knowing Wade could use the force and that nobody else knew about it but Molly.

On the plus side, when he got back and remembered his apartment lease had run out and found all his stuff at his mom’s, he and Molly were definitely dating, and he just moved in with her.

And then life returned to normal.

Well, as normal as it could be when you were the only person who knew one of your best friends wasn’t actually dead. It was incredible pressure to not give the secret away, to tell the people that cared about Mark. It wasn’t so bad when he wasn’t around Mark or Jack’s family, or Bob’s girlfriend Mandy, but it became so unbearable whenever he got close to doing something with Jack that he always canceled for fear of something going wrong, or because Mark would contact him and Molly for another training session.

Bob definitely knew something was off, but between work trips with Jack and his own life, he never actually talked to Wade about it -- well, not face to face. Wade would get messages about it from time to time, and while he was very grateful Bob was keeping an eye on him, he was also a little guilty.

Especially when he got a message from Bob that made him ache for the days when he could be transparent with everyone.

“Wade, I know you were friends with Mark the longest. I know you two were really close, and I know you two did a lot of things with Jack. Seeing Jack just isn’t something you can handle right now, I get it. But maybe message him sometime, or stop by, or anything. Jack’s been awfully lonely in the two years since Mark died, and I can only do so much to comfort him. He needs his friend, and you need him too. You don’t have to say anything about Mark, or about the past, or anything at all if you don’t want to. Just come and we can play games and goof off.

“And if you can’t bring yourself to come talk to Jack, come to my wedding, okay? I can’t imagine taking this step of my life without my friends and family next to me.”

Wade sighed as Molly finished reading the message out loud.

“He did attach an official invitation.” Molly pointed out. “It’s five months from now.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to go? Or will Mark want to train?”

“We’ll go. Just leave a message for Mark through the usual channels letting him know.”

“Jack will be there.” Wade said quietly. “I don’t think I can lie to Jack’s face.”

“Then don’t. Let me do all the talking when we’re around Jack.”

Wade groaned.

“I’ll send the message to Mark. You figure out what you’re going to say to Jack -- you might want to consider just straight up avoiding any conversations about Mark.” Molly threw Bob’s message at Wade. “And accept Bob’s invitation. We are definitely going to that wedding.”  
Wade nodded. Molly’s confidence in the matter was easing his own nerves. “Alright.”

\-----

“Jack’s next shipment is going to have something for the Resistance.” Mark walked into the room where Wade and Molly were assembling their lightsabers.

“What is it?” Molly asked, not looking up.

“Kyber crystals.”

“How’d you find this out?” Wade asked, turning his attention temporarily away from the disassembled weapon in front of him.

“Never mind that.” Mark made a dismissive gesture. “It’s really just the usual channels. But we can’t let that crate get to the Resistance.”

“I don’t know what you want us to do about it.” Wade shrugged. He knew he was technically on the dark side -- Jedis weren’t supposed to be in relationships, after all, and he and Molly had just gotten engaged. And some of the things they had learned were likely very much not approved by the long-gone Jedi Council.

It had stopped bothering him quite some time ago.

“Well, he’s leaving a good month after Bob’s wedding. Probably to give time for Bob’s honeymoon.” Mark paused, clearly thinking. “Which gives us three months until he leaves.” Then he grinned.

Mark’s grin had become somewhat more sinister and possibly even crazed in the two years since he’d faked his death.

That hadn’t quite stopped bothering Wade yet.

“Has Jack asked you to join his crew recently?”

Wade nodded slowly. He’d gotten a message from Bob about it a few days before. “He’s short crewmembers again.”

“Join his crew.” Mark looked at Wade and Molly. “Both of you. Then, when you get into the uninhabited parts of space, sabotage the ship. I’ll come pick you up.”

“I don’t want to kill Jack and Bob.”

“Then don’t. Just kill an engine or something.”

Molly looked up. “If you’re going to be in the area, wait until Wade is the only one in the cockpit and then shoot an engine yourself. Make it look like scavengers tried to take down the ship, but Jack will probably be able to set it down without problem. Then wait until Jack’s desperate enough for parts that he tries taking off anyway, and take the ship.”

“How is he going to get desperate for parts? He always carries enough repair supplies to fix half the ship.”

“Wade and I can take care of that.”

Mark nodded. “Sounds good.”

\-----

According to Bob, when Jack opened his messages to find one from Wade, requesting work on the _Septic_ , he ran around squealing with joy for a good hour and spent another two hours talking excitedly with his girlfriend (who was currently on the opposite side of Coruscant) about it before even beginning to compose a message in response.

The next two months flew by as Wade helped Bob get ready for his wedding and once again began socializing with Jack. It was strange, especially since Wade would frequently return home to find Mark waiting to train. But it was nice. Jack never talked about Mark around Wade, clearly worried doing so would scare Wade away again, and Wade was just glad he didn’t have to deal with the guilt of lying to one of his best friends about another of his best friends.

Then Bob was married, and Wade and Molly spent way too much time helping Jack get ready for the trip. It was a long one this time. It would be three months before they would even get to the part of space where Mark wanted to sabotage Jack’s ship.

\-----

Today was the day.

Wade had an early-hours shift with Bob coming off the late night shift.

As Bob started down the hallway to check on the cargo, Wade ran the typical system checks that he did every day, aware Molly still hadn’t emerged from cutting the cargo restraints.

If she got caught...

The clock in the corner of Wade’s vision changed to 0500 exactly.

Any time now, then. At any point, Mark could shoot an engine.

Molly’s shadow slipped out of the cargo hall and down to the sleeping quarters where she was supposed to be, even as Molly herself blew Wade a kiss.

There. There was Mark’s ship. Wade could certainly see it, which meant Mark was ready to shoot an engine.

And then the whole ship jerked.

And the panel where Wade was standing exploded, sending electricity crackling up his arm.

This wasn’t supposed to be what happened.

That was the thought that echoed through Wade’s mind as consciousness faded. The other one that came to him was ‘I hope Mark remembered to bring mine and Molly's lightsabers.’


End file.
